Fire Ox Vs Metal Dragon

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Honeymoon

Friday, September 21, 2007

A look back & current projects

I came upon this Polaroid in my parents' photo album & borrowed it to scan - me (on the left) knitting, 1983. Obviously creating thrills a-plenty for the person on the right.

Argosy scarf is blocking on the ironing board. The shade of purple doesn't come through so well in this photo. I made it wider than the original, since I'm not a real skinny-scarf kind of person. It still seems kind of skinny to me, but it was also curling like crazy before blocking.

And Argosy baby blanket underway. I'm making Kay Gardiner's (of Mason Dixon Knitting fame) square-ish version of Vyvyan Neel's design (would Vyvyan Neel appreciate knowing I once had a cat named Vyvyan (named after Vyvyan on "The Young Ones.")?). (Excessive use of parentheses in one sentence??)So, the blanket started with one little square, and keeps expanding to the left & right until I'm half way through the yarn, then I'll start descreasing squares to get back to one little square at the other end. I found the other day that I have an odd number of skeins, so I've been pondering whether to just see when it feels like about halfway through skein #9, or whether to actually separate this skein into 2 parts & weigh to get the exact halfway point. I'm using Jaeger Baby Merino, 100% Merino wool, machine-washable. Not quite sure who it's for yet, but there are 3 more babies coming up, between work & cousins, so no lack of potential recipients.

And, yes, getting married in 2 days. Just a few little things to do between today & tomorrow. K's driving up to Syracuse to pick up the best man, who just had to move down to SC about a month ago. My mom & I will look for a bouquet. And I'm just having a little quiet time with the computer early in the morning.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Latest feather & fan

Here's the most recent feather & fan baby blanket (in the spare room which is filling up with wedding gear). I was very happy to get it all done & ready to ship off on Saturday. The recepient will be at our wedding, but it seems a little awkward to be giving people gifts at your own wedding. My favorite image of the wrongness is the family waking out to their car with a wrapped-up gife & someone asking "Changed your mind?"

This one is in Plymouth Yarn's Dreambaby DK, 50% acrylic microfiber, 50% nylon, in white with little dabs of blue & purple. I'm pretty happy with how the color spots worked out with the pattern. I still haven't found a suitable replacement for Sirdar Snuggly Baby Care DK, for knitting these blankets, but maybe something will pop up eventually. I may give KnitPicks Swish DK a shot.

I've also finished knitting the Argosy scarf in Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, a lovely yarn to work with. Right now it still has ends sticking out, and is curling like a mf, so no photos as yet. And I've started the Argosy baby blanket, with Jaeger Baby Merino. So far, it's very satisfying, making a squishy soft fabric.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Trippy Needles!

Wow - look at those! I've been thinking about getting a set of KnitPicks Options interchangeable circs, & now they've come out with them in trippy colored wood! Whee! Right when I'm getting married & have no $$ - what were they thinking?? And I just bought some plain wood size 0 dpns for sock knitting! Mere plain, un-colored wood!

Monday, September 03, 2007

Arizona

The baby blanket in Knit Picks Shine Sport headed off to my cousin in Arizona this weekend. It turned out rather nice, though I found a spot right near the beginning where I had apparently dropped a stitch, then picked it up, but missed one row. That's the best I can figure out. I didn't go so far as to take a picture of the flaw, though.

The Shine Sport was a pain to knit, but feels quite nice. I'm thinking it would make a really nice lacy summer cardigan. Like maybe the Chic Knits CeCe (only not so cropped, so must remember to factor in more yarn).

When I downloaded photos from the camera today, I found this tasty, colorful salsa. This was loosely following a recipe for blueberry salsa, but very loosely, so I'll just list the ingredients: tomatoes, vidalia onions, jalepeno pepper, blueberries & mango pieces. It was really, really good.

And this weekend I was treated to a lovely bridal shower, organized by LC and hosted by MO'D. My mom came up from PA, K's mom & sis came down from Albany & I got to open a package containing lubricant & naughty dice in front of them. That's kind of required for a bridal shower, isn't it? Thanks everyone & especially thanks LC!!!!!